


Changes

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 13:46:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16577663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: "I hated you when I first met you."





	Changes

It was a bright and sunny Saturday, and Katherine lay curled around her husband. It was well past noon, but they'd been awake and talking since around seven. If any couple could solve the world's problems on a lazy weekend morning, surrounded by blankets and pillows in the comfort of their marriage bed, it was Katherine and Jack.

"I hated you when I first met you," Katherine said. Jack's fingers were running through her hair, and it was hard to muster up any real malice when the things he was doing to her made her want to purr.

"No you didn't," said Jack with a tender smile.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Is that what you really think?" Katherine asked. She turned around to face him. "You ought to know you were insufferable! Impossible!" 

Jack kissed her quickly. "You like me that way."

"No, really, I'm being serious. I hated you the first time we spoke. Even the second and the third. You were just like every other man who leered at me from the street, or tried to entice me into their beds as though I had nothing better to do! Jack, when I first met you, I was working."

That got Jack's attention. His hands on Katherine stilled, and she felt almost guilty for the shadow that passed over his face. He loved her so much, but that didn't change the fact that he started off by going about it in all the wrong ways. 

"What changed?" Jack asked. He didn't sound so cocky anymore, and Katherine tried to tell herself that this was a good thing.

"I got to know you as a strike leader," Katherine said. She forced herself to back away from Jack. Now that they were talking about this, she wanted him to understand about certain things. "I saw how much you cared for those boys. I saw your art. But that's not the point. Do you know what you did wrong?"

"A lot of the fellas and me, we always flirted with girls like you."

"Girls like me?"

"Yeah. You know. Society girls. Girls who wasn't going to answer our calls."

"And whistles."

Jack raked his hand through his hair. "Yeah. Those."

"And insinuations."

Jack looked up at Katherine contritely. 

"You know, I would've punched anybody in the face who bugged Smalls or Sniper like that. If they didn't wanna do it themselves, that is."

Katherine nodded. "And if I'd been the governor herself? How would you have spoken to me then?"

"I dunno. Like a governor I guess. It would depend on whether you was a good governor or a bad one." 

"Alright." Katherine shifted so she was leaning over Jack, her face close to his. "Imagine I'm a bad governor. Scratch that. Imagine I'm an evil governor. I'm the evilest governor there ever was. What do you say to me?"

Jack raised his eyebrows, like he wasn't sure if Katherine was serious or playing with him. "I think I'd let you govern me, to tell the truth. You could make me do whatever you wanted."

"No."

"I thought you liked being in charge, miss governor."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "If I was an evil governor, I'd want you to talk to me the same way you'd talk to my father if _he_ was an evil governor. No differences. Let's practice."

Jack frowned, then nodded. "... I guess you gotta tell me what kind of politics you're keeping before we try this," Jack said finally. "I gotta know what, specifically, your evil deeds is before I can argue against 'em."

Katherine smiled. "That's a good start.”


End file.
